Say Yes
by Dazzlious
Summary: Why is Draco so keen for Hermione to say yes?


Sadly, I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from JK Rowling's fantastic books or films. I'm just borrowing and playing with them for a little while and get no monetary reward for doing so.

A/N: _So I was in the middle of writing a story and had got to a section in which Hermione and Draco weren't getting on very well and it was beginning to get a bit depressing. During a break to give things a chance to cool down a bit I was hijacked by this. It's just a bit of fun, but hopefully you'll enjoy it. Thanks as always to Mamacita for cleaning up my grammar and thanks to you for reading. Dx_

* * *

'Say yes.'

'What are you talking about?' Hermione asked as she tried to wriggle out of Draco's arms.

'I'm not letting you go, Hermione, so stop fighting me,' Draco said, sounding amused.

He pulled her tighter, pressing against her unapologetically, his lips finding hers for another kiss, chuckling as she fought him still. One of his hands moved to cup her breast, squeezing for a moment before moving lower to pull up her skirt so the hand could slip beneath to caress her bare thigh. Then it moved up, his fingers playing with the elastic and satin they found, trying to gain access inside.

'Stop it, Draco,' Hermione hissed, her voice almost begging as she pushed his roving hand away from her.

'Then say yes,' Draco said, apparently not at all undeterred by her brush-off.

'What am I saying yes to?' Hermione asked suspiciously.

Draco chuckled again. 'You'll find out when you you've said yes.'

'I'm not having sex with you, so I'm not going to say yes,' Hermione told him.

'You should be more adventurous, my love,' Draco whispered as his lips found hers again. 'Please, Hermione, say yes.'

'I told you, I'm not—'

'Perhaps it's not sex,' Draco said, smoothly cutting her off.

'And perhaps it is,' Hermione retorted. 'I'm not going to say yes unless you tell me what the question is.'

'And I'm not going to tell you until you say yes,' Draco replied infuriatingly. 'I can wait all night, but it would be better if you just gave in and said yes now.'

He looked deep into her eyes. 'You are absolutely gorgeous, Hermione, and I am completely infatuated by you . . . so . . . say . . . yes.' The last three words were a whisper punctuated by gentle kisses.

Hermione threw her head back for a moment, then shook it as if she couldn't believe what was happening.

'You're a Gryffindor,' Draco said, trying another tack. 'You're meant to be brave. So go on, say yes.'

Hermione looked at him appraisingly.

'How did we get here like this?' she asked.

'Because deep down inside, you fancy me as much as I fancy you,' Draco answered with a grin. 'So please, love, just say yes and then we can move on.'

Hermione shook her head and started trying to pull away again. 'I think I should just go.'

'No!' Draco said, gripping her more tightly. 'You just need to say yes . . . _please_.'

'I'm not saying yes and then finding out I've agreed to do something sexual with you,' Hermione said, sounding a little unhappy. 'I think it will be better if I leave now.'

Draco pushed her back against the wall, his arms wrapped around her as he held her tightly.

'No, you should just say yes.'

He stared at her, looking deep into her eyes as she gazed back. They stayed that way for several seconds, not saying anything.

'I promise it's nothing bad — so say yes,' Draco pleaded eventually.

Hermione had a feeling that if need be — if she didn't say yes — Draco really would keep her there all night. What was the worst that could happen? Okay, it was true that she _could_ find herself having agreed to some sort of intimacy with him; but she could always argue it afterwards, and depending what it was she wouldn't necessarily be too averse to it happening, whatever she may tell him. He was incredibly handsome and extremely sexy, after all; his kisses were wonderful and she was rather enjoying the feeling of him pressed against her, especially his pulling her back every time she tried to move away, which made it quite clear that he really didn't want her to leave. It made such a nice change from him being horrible to her, too, although she had absolutely no idea why he had suddenly changed so much towards her. She wasn't about to argue the subject with him, though. Instead she was going to play his game — at least until it became uncomfortable or embarrassing. But she wasn't going to seem too eager; he was going to have to work for it.

'You might as well let me go. I'm not going—' she began.

But Draco cut her off. 'I've already told you I'm not letting you go — so just say yes.'

Hermione waited for a few seconds, then gave a loud, put-upon sigh. 'All right, I give in . . . yes.'

'Are you sure?' Draco asked cheekily.

Hermione hit him on the chest, then said more forcefully, 'Yes, I'm sure. The answer is yes.'

'Brilliant,' Draco said happily and he kissed her again, more passionately this time.

There was a strange swirly, wrenching, rushing feeling that threatened to pull them apart. Then the world righted itself. Hermione stopped kissing Draco and looked at him worriedly before looking around her. They appeared to be in an office of some description, where a man in long green robes, with short, dark hair and a large moustache, was sitting at a desk in front of them. A woman in scarlet, with golden curls and a monocle, sat next to him with a large book open in front of her.

'Our wedding,' Draco told Hermione, sounding ecstatic.

'Our what?' Hermione asked in shock.

'Our wedding. You said yes.'

He released her arm from his grip and took her hand instead before turning to face the couple behind the desk.

'But—' Hermione honestly didn't know what to say. This most certainly wasn't what she had thought she was saying yes to.

'I'm sorry we're late,' Draco told the Registrar and his assistant. He looked at his watch. 'Ah, we're not too bad. Just a couple of minutes late.'

He beamed at Hermione, who was still looking at him in shock.

'Now you just have to say yes again,' he told her.

'You want me. . .' Hermione began, sounding completely flabbergasted.

'To say yes . . . yes, I do,' Draco said brightly, his smile wide as he took Hermione's hand. 'Please?'

'How have you done this? Is it some sort of trick?' Hermione asked as she stared around her. Draco smiled but, infuriatingly, said nothing. 'I can't believe you've done this,' she added.

'But I have, so say yes.' Draco squeezed her hand.

Hermione bit her bottom lip as she thought about what to say. Surely this had to be some sort of joke. Draco Malfoy wasn't really going to marry her. Despite what it looked like, there was no way they had left Hogwarts as they couldn't Apparate out of the place, so it had to be a trick of some sort — an illusion or something — although the feeling of movement had been a nice touch, a very clever piece of magic, and she wasn't sure how he had achieved it. The truth was that probably once she said yes for the second time all his horrid pure-blood friends would appear and take the piss out of her for fancying him when she was nothing but a stupid little Mudblood he would never be interested in. She could already picture the look of disdain on Draco's face as he pushed her away and laughed with his friends.

For a moment she debated saying no, to spite him and to prove that she wasn't as gullible as he obviously thought she was. But remembering his wonderful kisses and considering the look he was giving her, both eager and hopeful at the same time, it suddenly seemed a churlish thing to do even if he was playing a nasty trick on her — and even more so if he really was trying to woo her. If nothing else, he certainly won the prize for originality. But what if he wasn't playing a trick on her? Once again, surely he couldn't really be marrying her, could he? She knew it couldn't be true, but there was a small part of her — well, okay, quite a large part of her — that was excited at the prospect that somehow, despite everything that had happened between them in the past, Draco liked her that much. Even if it was all a trick, the fact that he had gone to so much trouble melted her heart and she knew she would continue to play along until the bitter end.

'All right, yes,' Hermione said stoically as she waited for the punchline to land.

'It's a yes,' Draco told the waiting couple jubilantly. 'You heard her say it.'

The man nodded as the woman started writing in her book with a large white quill pen.

'By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you man and wife,' the Registrar intoned gravely. 'You may now kiss the bride.'

Draco grabbed Hermione and pulled her to him to give her another deeply passionate kiss. Once again the world twisted and swirled and there was the uncomfortable wrenching feeling. And then they were back at the party, still hidden away in the alcove they had been in since Draco had accosted Hermione on her way to the drinks table.

'What just happened?' Hermione asked breathlessly.

'Say yes,' Draco said. He was grinning like the Cheshire cat now.

'I am not saying yes again, Draco,' Hermione said, sounding exasperated. 'Now tell me, what the hell just happened?'

'We got married,' Draco said blithely, as if she was asking a stupid question.

'We didn't,' Hermione retorted, shaking her head. 'We couldn't have done.'

'We could and we did,' Draco said. 'We just kissed to seal the ceremony. You heard the Registrar.'

'Look, I don't know what sort of pathetic stunt you're trying to pull here, but we are not married.' Hermione tried to pull away from Draco's arms once more, bristling a little now. This whole thing had begun to annoy her and she wasn't entirely sure why. 'There was no ceremony, and more to the point, there was no ring!'

'Ah yes,' Draco said, as if she had reminded him. He patted his jacket pocket and pulled out a small box which he opened to reveal two gleaming golden bands. 'Two wedding rings — one for you and one for me.'

Hermione shook her head. 'This is not happening.'

'But you agreed,' Draco reminded her. 'That's all that was needed. I know rings are usually exchanged during the ceremony but it didn't fit, so we customised it. Believe me, Hermione, we really are properly married.'

He removed the smaller of the two rings from the box. Then he took hold of her left hand, stroking it gently as he raised it to accept the ring. He slipped it onto her finger and watched as it automatically shrank to fit, then pulled her hand to his mouth to give it a tender kiss. He held out the box so Hermione could take the other ring and repeat the process with him.

'This is a joke, right?' Hermione asked weakly as she slid the ring onto his finger.

Draco smiled but said nothing. As his ring resized itself he wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her close again, and once more pushed her back against the wall as he pressed as much of his body as possible against her.

'Say yes,' he said, his voice low and seductive.

'Oh god, not that again,' Hermione retorted.

Draco kissed her.

'Say yes,' he said more insistently. He looked at her and smiled. 'You've no reason not to, not now that we're married.' He lifted up her hand to show her the ring, as if to remind her.

'This is about sex this time, isn't it?' Hermione asked shrewdly.

Draco chuckled salaciously and kissed her throat.

'Just say yes, Hermione. You know you want to.'

Hermione wrapped her arms around his neck, moving her head so their foreheads were touching.

'Yes,' she whispered.

Draco whooped with glee as he squeezed her tightly to him and his lips found hers once more.

* * *

'Have you seen Hermione?' Ron asked Harry. The two of them were sitting in the Gryffindor common room nursing hangovers from the party the night before.

Harry shook his head briefly, then grabbed it as a wave of dizziness and nausea almost overwhelmed him. He groaned.

'No. The last time I saw her was when she said she was going to get another drink. I never saw her again after that.'

'Me neither,' Ron said worriedly. 'I hope she's okay.'

Harry chuckled. 'Knowing Hermione, she got fed up with not doing homework and came back here to do some revision or something, then had an early night.'

Ron laughed along certain that Harry was right. But at that moment the portrait hole door opened and Hermione came through it, still wearing her party robes. She looked knackered but extremely happy.

'Morning,' she said brightly to her two friends, who looked at her in amazement.

'Have you just come back?' Ron asked in disbelief.

Hermione nodded. She was still beaming. 'I have and I feel a bit tired, but I'm starving and need some breakfast. I'm just going to go and get changed, then I'm going down to the Great Hall.'

With a wave she walked off towards the stairs to the girls' dormitories. Harry and Ron watched her go, still gazing at her in astonishment.

'Where do you think she's been?' Ron asked. He was frowning. 'She's obviously been out all night . . . but who with?'

Harry shrugged uncaringly. 'I've no idea. You'll have to ask her when she comes down.' He yawned, then added, 'She obviously had a good night, though.'

'What makes you say that?' Ron asked tartly.

'That huge grin plastered all over her face is a big clue,' Harry answered, and he yawned again. 'If I didn't know Hermione better I'd say she had been—'

'Well, that's not very likely,' Ron said, cutting him off. His face wore a scowl now.

Harry grinned wickedly. 'Oh, I dunno. She looked knackered, too, as if she'd been—'

'She has not been doing _anything_ like that,' Ron said adamantly, the scowl set more deeply on his face.

Harry shrugged again. 'Well, I don't know as I wasn't with her. But she certainly looks happy, and I don't think she's hung over, either.'

Ron gave a small snort of disgust at this, as if he thought she should be. If they were suffering then their best friend should be going through it with them. They sat there quietly, still trying to deal with their hangovers as they waited for Hermione to come back down.

'So are you coming to breakfast?' Hermione asked. She had changed into jeans and a t-shirt that revealed quite a lot more cleavage than her usual weekend clothing. She was still smiling.

Harry jerked awake at her comment. He had closed his eyes for a moment and started to drift off.

'Is that a new top you're wearing?' Ron demanded.

Hermione nodded. 'Yes, well . . . I've had it for a little while but never really had the guts to wear it before. But I thought, why not? It's a lovely day, and it's pointless having it and not wearing it.'

'I'm not surprised you haven't worn it,' Ron said, looking and sounding judgemental.

Hermione gave him a sharp look and Harry stared at him, too.

'And what's wrong with it?' Hermione asked, her voice chillier than previously.

'Well, it's a bit. . . .' Ron gestured with his hands but didn't seem to be able to put it into words.

Hermione looked annoyed. 'It's not indecent, Ron.' Ron went to open his mouth but she cut him off. 'Just because I'm showing a bit of cleavage for once in my life there's no need for you to act like I'm some kind of whore or something.'

She turned to Harry. 'Do you think my t-shirt is obscene?' she asked ferociously.

Harry, well aware that he needed to say the right thing, shook his head. 'No. It's a very nice top,' he said honestly.

The t-shirt was nice, Harry thought, but he could understand why Ron was a bit het up over it and knew it had very little to do with the top itself. It was to do with the fact that Hermione had stayed out all night, quite clearly having got rather intimate with someone, and was now dressing in a more provocative manner than usual, probably for her new boyfriend, whoever he was.

'Are you coming or not?' Hermione said briskly, and she looked at her watch. 'I have to go.'

'Why do you have to go?' Harry asked interestedly as Ron continued to stare at her glumly.

'Because I'm meeting—' She broke off as both men stared at her. 'Never mind. If you're coming along you'll see for yourself.'

She walked towards the portrait hole door without bothering to wait for her friends. Harry and Ron got up and raced after her. Outside in the corridor, sitting on the base of a statue and wearing a smile as broad as Hermione's, was Draco. Hermione walked over to him and gave him a brief kiss. He stood up and wrapped his arm around her waist as he looked appreciatively at her.

'Nice outfit,' he said with a wink.

'I thought you'd like it,' Hermione said a touch smugly.

'Whoa, hang on. What are you doing with Malfoy, Hermione?' Ron asked accusingly. 'Tell me you didn't spend all night with _him_.'

'Jealous, are we?' Draco asked, sounding extremely smug.

'Why would I be jealous of you?' Ron said testily.

Draco shrugged lazily as he pulled Hermione closer. 'Because I got the girl, Weasley. Hermione's all mine.' He grinned wickedly, then turned to look at Hermione. 'Let's go, shall we, I'm starving.'

Hermione nodded and they walked down the corridor towards the stairs, Harry and Ron following behind. Ron looked absolutely livid.

'What the hell's she doing with him?' he muttered angrily. 'She knows what he is . . . and look at the way he's treated her for the last six years.'

'More interesting, I think, is why Malfoy is with _her_,' Harry said sounding curious. 'You're right, he has always been horrible to her — so why has he suddenly changed?'

'Hermione's a beautiful girl,' Ron said defensively, then reddened a little at the admission.

'I know that, but she's also Muggle-born. I just can't see what can have happened to so effectively change Malfoy's mind about her,' Harry mused.

'He's using her,' Ron stated confidently.

Harry, still wondering what on earth was going on, looked at the couple in front of him who were chatting away quite happily to each other, openly holding hands as they walked.

'I wonder what his father will say. I bet he won't be pleased with his precious pure-blood son dating a Muggle-born.'

'He's not dating her,' Ron said, trying to ignore the obvious. 'It's probably some sort of nasty trick he's playing on her.' His face set with a scowl, he added, 'We should go and stop him before he does something to hurt her.'

He sped up before Harry could stop him. When he reached Hermione and Draco Ron grabbed hold of the Slytherins' shoulder, pulling him round.

'What do you think you're playing at, eh, Malfoy?' Ron asked, his voice an angry snarl.

'I knew you were jealous,' Draco said, still infuriatingly smug. 'Bad luck, Weasley.'

Ron threw a punch, but Draco moved his head just in time and it missed. Hermione screamed and began shouting at Ron, telling him to leave Draco alone. Harry pulled his friend back.

'Pathetic,' Draco said sneeringly as he looked at Ron, who was still being held by Harry.

'I dunno what you're doing, but if you do _anything _to hurt Hermione I'll kill you, Malfoy,' Ron told him, glaring at the Slytherin as he spoke.

'I'm not doing anything to lovely Hermione that she doesn't want,' Draco replied, and he winked at Hermione, who turned a faint shade of pink.

'And what are you doing, eh?' Ron demanded. 'You've always hated Hermione and now suddenly you're all over her. So what's that all about?'

Draco shrugged nonchalantly. 'Believe it or not, Weasley, I've fallen in love.'

Ron snorted with disbelief.

'It's true, whether you want to believe it or not. It crept up on me slowly over several years so it took me a while to realise,' Draco admitted. 'But then one day it hit me, like a bolt out of the blue, and I realised I had to make her mine.'

'She's not yours, Malfoy. She's not a piece of property or one of your house-elves. She's a witch, and a damn good one,' Ron retorted.

'She is my wife, though,' Draco told him, unable to keep the smug look off his face as he said it.

'Your wife? Don't talk rubbish,' Ron snarled.

Harry looked at Hermione to see how she was reacting to this. She seemed serene and not at all surprised by what Draco was saying.

Draco lifted up Hermione's hand, which he was still holding, showing off the wedding ring as he lifted his own hand to reveal the matching band.

'But you can't be,' Ron said, sounding stunned.

'Are you really married, Hermione?' Harry asked, sounding as astonished as Ron.

Hermione nodded. Draco put his hand into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a roll of parchment.

'Read it and weep, Weasley,' he said jubilantly as he unrolled it, showing the written side to Harry and Ron. 'It's our wedding certificate . . . Draco and Hermione Malfoy.' Completely ignoring the stunned look on the two men's faces, he added, 'It arrived this morning. An owl brought it while we were—' He broke off and looked at Hermione for a second, another wicked grin crossing his face. 'Well, I was going to say we were sleeping, but we weren't really.' He squeezed Hermione's hand.

'How could you?' Ron asked Hermione, his face pale and his voice disbelieving. 'You know what he is . . . what he's like. Look at the crappy way he's treated you all these years, Hermione. How could you go with him? How could you marry him?'

Hermione looked a little embarrassed as she tried to think how she was going to explain what had happened. How could she admit that she had said yes to Draco believing it was a joke, nothing more than an elaborate ruse to get her into bed — that she hadn't believed she was really getting married?

Even the rings hadn't convinced her, sure as she was that they were just another prop, although she had tingled with excitement when Draco had placed the ring on her finger and kissed it, his look was so tender and yet possessive, too. Her heart had skipped even faster when she had placed the ring on his finger in exchange, knowing what was going to happen next. She still hadn't believed him as they lay in bed, Draco holding her down beneath him as he whispered in her ear between kisses, telling her how much he loved her, how this had been something he had dreamed about and planned for months, nor even during the exquisite pleasure of the consummation that was so much more enjoyable than she had ever imagined it could be.

It wasn't until the owl had arrived carrying the marriage certificate — although how on earth it had managed to find them she would never know — that she realised Draco had been telling her the truth all along. Somehow he had got them out of Hogwarts and they really were married. It was something of a shock, but she was interested to discover that she wasn't unhappy about it. On the contrary, her heart was singing at the knowledge that it was true. She was married to this gorgeous man who had just spent all night giving her so much pleasure. She realised she felt happier than she ever had done in her entire life.

Of course there was some seriousness when Draco talked to her about his father, knowing that he would be less than happy about what his son had done. But as they held each other and made love several more times, each moment they spent together binding them ever closer, she hadn't cared about that, hadn't cared about anything but being with Draco.

And when, just before they left, he gently whispered in a worried voice, 'Please tell me you're happy about this, Hermione,' she beamed ecstatically and pulled him into another kiss before assuring him that she was.

'To be honest, I tricked Hermione into it,' Draco said truthfully, breaking through her thoughts.

Hermione looked at him in surprise at his confession, just as Harry and Ron were doing.

'You tricked her,' Ron said bitterly. 'How did you do that? Why did you do that?'

'As for the why, I've already told you: I'm in love with Hermione,' Draco answered smoothly, completely ignoring the threatening looks Ron was throwing his way. 'The how was more interesting and took a hell of a lot of planning on my part. I've been on it for months. It was a risk but it paid off handsomely.'

'So what did you do?' Harry asked interestedly.

Looking extremely pleased with himself, Draco told them, 'I already had an idea of what I wanted to do and so I spoke to a Registrar about the wedding service to find out how little we could get away with. After quite a long discussion and with a little sweetening he finally agreed that if I had said all my words and agreed to the marriage, all I had to do was get Hermione to say "yes" and we would be married. She didn't have to be there for the whole ceremony and the exchanging of rings could be done later, to ensure that we weren't away from school for too long in case anyone realised we had disappeared and came looking for us. Once I had the Registrar's agreement I hatched my plan.'

'But a wedding service isn't as simple as just saying yes,' Ron said. 'It goes on for ages. I know — I had to sit through Bill and Fleur's wedding.'

Draco shook his head. 'Most of that's just waffle to make the ceremony more interesting for the guests. When it comes down to it, the only important bit is when the couple say yes to each other. That's the legal bit, and the only bit we needed. So having agreed that was the case and knowing the Registrar was willing to accept marrying us if Hermione said yes, I had to work on how to get her out of the castle. I had a sneaking suspicion that she didn't hate me as much as you two do, and I thought if I could just get her alone I could work on her, get her to realise that I wasn't as bad as she had always thought — or at least that I'd changed and no longer thought of her as a Mudblood. I knew I was taking a chance but I didn't have time to take things slowly.'

'And why's that?' Ron asked, sounding belligerent.

'Because we leave school soon, Weasley. That's what did it really, what made me realise I was in love with Hermione. I was looking at her in Ancient Runes one day, thinking how beautiful she was, and then I realised that in less than six months we would be leaving school and it was entirely possible that I might never see her again. The idea was shocking, horrific even, and I knew I had to do something to stop that from happening. Initially I was just planning on getting her into bed. I knew my father would be furious if he found out, but at least I would have got some pleasure from her. But even as I tried to plan that I began to see that my feelings for her ran far deeper than I'd realised. That was when the idea of marrying her overtook any other thoughts and I became obsessed with achieving it.'

'So how did you get out of the castle?' Harry asked.

At the same time Ron asked bitterly, 'So what did you do to Hermione to make her say yes?'

Draco stared at Ron appraisingly for a second but then ignored him to answer Harry's question.

'I bought an extremely expensive and highly illegal Portkey,' he explained, ignoring the shocked looks on the faces of the three friends. 'Hogwarts is warded against Apparition but as Portkeys are illegal unless agreed and provided by the Ministry of Magic they don't expect anyone to have one and so don't bother to ward against it. This was a special one because you didn't have to set it for a particular time, you could just press it when you wanted to travel. All I had to do was to set it up to travel between Hogwarts and the Registrars office, get hold of Hermione, and we were good to go. All I needed was for her to say yes.'

'To say yes to getting married,' Ron said, his voice duller now.

'Well, actually I needed her to say it twice . . . three times if you count her agreement to consummating the marriage afterwards.' He smiled as Ron scowled deeply at these words. 'The first time was her agreement to marry me. When I convinced her to say yes I used the Portkey to take us to the Registrars office where the Registrar was already waiting ready to marry us as soon as Hermione said yes the second time. Once she agreed, he said the words that bound us, and whilst I was kissing her I used the Portkey to return us to the castle.'

Ron turned on Hermione, his face angry as he asked, 'Why did you say yes to him, especially when you saw what he was doing?'

Hermione stared at Ron evenly for a moment as she weighed up her words before replying.

'When Draco grabbed me I'll admit I was surprised, but if I'm honest I was quite excited as well.' Ron looked at her with disgust. 'Let's face it, Ron, he's really handsome and he's a great kisser, and it was nice that he wasn't being horrible to me for once. I couldn't decide if he was setting me up for a nasty trick or trying to get me into bed — he kept asking me to say yes but wouldn't tell me what I was saying yes to. It pretty quickly became clear he wasn't going to let me go or stop asking until I said yes so I did, although I was expecting to argue with him when he finally revealed what I'd agreed to. But then we were spinning away and were in this office and he was asking me to say yes again, telling me it was our wedding.'

'But why did you say yes?' Ron was completely dumbfounded.

'Because I wanted to,' Hermione admitted. 'I still thought he was joking with me, that he had somehow managed to conjure an illusion or something, because I was sure we couldn't have left the school — I didn't know about the Portkey — but I was also interested to see just how far Draco was prepared to take the joke. So I said yes, not realising it was real.'

'And then you were stuck, married to Malfoy with no way of escaping,' Ron said, sounding slightly more sympathetic towards her now.

'I wouldn't put it quite like that,' Hermione replied. She blushed prettily. 'I admit that I still didn't believe we were married, even when Draco got the rings out, but to be honest I was impressed at all the trouble he had gone to. I don't know anyone else who would have gone to so much trouble to get me into bed.' She looked pointedly at Ron.

'So why did you sleep with him if you didn't think you were married?' Ron asked. He was having trouble keeping the accusatory tone out of his voice.

Hermione gave a small smile. 'Yet again, it was because I wanted to.'

Ron looked at her in shock. 'But Malfoy's always been so—'

Hermione sighed. 'Yes, I know, Ronald. But I think there was always a part of me that fancied him . . . for years and years . . . that always hoped that one day he would realise I wasn't just a filthy little Mudblood. And it finally happened. The truth is, I was touched by his attention and by what he had done, so even knowing . . . or at least thinking that we weren't married, it wasn't going to stop me from being with him.'

'But you really were married. How did you feel about that when you found out?' Harry asked.

'Happy,' Hermione said honestly. Draco grinned wildly at this admission. She continued, 'As I've just said, I fancied him anyway, and the sex was great. When I realised it was real and not a joke I was a bit stunned at first, I'll admit, but it didn't take long for Draco to convince me that it wasn't a mistake.'

'But he doesn't even know you,' Ron said unhappily.

'Of course I do, Weasley. I've spent the same number of years getting to know Hermione as you and Potter,' Draco retorted.

'But all you did was be mean to her. You didn't bother to get to know her properly.'

'I disagree. I think being against Hermione all those years showed me a side of her that none of us would ever have known about otherwise, and I watched her with you two for long enough to understand what she would be like as a friend. And I can guarantee you that I definitely know her as a lover.' Draco was smirking again.

Still scowling at Draco's comment about being Hermione's lover, Ron shot back, 'But that doesn't change what you are. You're still a Death Eater, aren't you?'

Draco considered this for a moment, looking thoughtful. 'On balance I think I'd have to say no, don't you, Weasley? It's true that I _was_ a Death Eater, and unfortunately I do still have that hideous Mark on my arm, but I think both the Dark Lord and my father will consider me to be a blood-traitor for what I've done.' Ron opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything Draco added, 'But I wouldn't have it any other way. I'd rather spend the rest of my life being hunted down for being a blood-traitor with Hermione than be safe at the Dark Lord's side without her.'

'That's not really very fair on her, though, is it?' Ron said. 'You've put her life in danger because of your selfishness.'

Draco laughed bitterly. 'Hermione was already in danger . . . you all are. What I've done makes her no more unpopular than she already was. Believe me, my father already absolutely detests her . . . for being so good at magic and for always beating me in class, and of course for being one of Potter's best friends. It couldn't get any worse. Anyway, it will be me he's disappointed with, but I can live with that. I've been a disappointment for years.'

'So you're switching sides, are you?' Harry asked. He was looking intently at Draco as if trying to detect any sense of perfidy.

Draco stared back at him and gave a long loud sigh. 'Well, I suppose I have no choice, do I, Potter? As much as it galls me to think that you and I would ever be on the same side, I have my beautiful wife to think about. Keeping her safe has to be my number one priority now, aside from passing my N.E.W.T.s, of course. I have no choice but to fight for a world that doesn't exclude Hermione or other Muggle-borns, and the only way that's going to happen is by joining you.'

'You give it all the talk, but I bet inside you're still completely rotten. You Slytherins never change and you're as slippery as snakes,' Ron said.

Draco glared at him for a moment but then his look turned smug again.

'Well, you're going to have plenty of opportunity to see if that's true or not, Weasley. Hermione and I will be together most of the time and I assume you two will be there for some of it.'

Ron looked disgusted at this thought.

'Get used to it,' Draco added. 'I have no intention of letting her go, whatever you two think about our relationship.'

'We're not getting those gorilla friends of yours, too, are we?' Harry asked unhappily.

Draco shook his head dismissively. 'No. They and most of my other friends won't be any more understanding about my decision than my father will. I shall be an outcast amongst my clique.' He looked tenderly at Hermione. 'It's worth it, though.'

'Can we go to breakfast now?' Hermione asked. She was fed up with the questioning, although she understood why her friends were suspicious and upset. They would be for a long time yet and she knew there would be more arguments in the future, but now she wanted to eat. 'I'm starving, and I need a nap afterwards, too.'

'Let's go,' Draco said with a smile, and still holding hands the two of them started to move again.

'What about your mother?' Ron called out as Hermione and Draco started to walk away. He and Harry hadn't yet moved.

The couple stopped and Draco turned to look back at them. 'What would your mother do, Weasley?'

'We're already blood-traitors, as you've pointed out so many times in the past,' Ron told him.

'And if you weren't? Or if you fell in love with a Death Eater?'

Ron frowned. 'Well, I suppose she would be disappointed, but she would accept it, I think.'

Draco nodded his head. 'Exactly. My mother wants me to be happy; that's all she's ever wanted. She isn't like my father — she's not a Death Eater. She has no love for Muggle-borns, but when she realises I'm in love with Hermione she'll accept it because she'll know it will make me happy.'

He turned again and this time the couple made it to the stairs and descended without looking back. Ron watched them go, rubbing the back of his neck and looking uncomfortable.

'Do you think he really is in love with her?' he asked Harry.

Harry shrugged, trying to be noncommittal. 'Who knows? I guess we'll find out eventually.'

'If he hurts her. . . .' Ron said hotly. He left the threat unsaid this time.

Harry looked appraisingly at Ron for a second. 'Look, I know it's not what you want to hear at the moment, Ron, but I think Malfoy really does love Hermione, and I think we're going to have to get used to him being in our lives. Remember, she said yes. He didn't force her into it.'

'He might have used the Imperius on her,' Ron muttered.

Harry sighed. 'You know he didn't. If he had he would never have been so open, nor would he have talked to us about it. Look at what he did for her! Who would ever think of doing something that romantic?'

'You think that was romantic? He kidnapped her and made her marry him,' Ron said.

'He didn't _make_ her do anything. Hermione chose to say yes.' Harry's voice was a little weary now.

'But she thought it was a joke,' Ron countered.

'No, she thought he was trying to get her into bed. Instead he gave her so much more. And she wanted him, too. She said so. That's why she said yes.' He looked at his unhappy friend and added, 'Come on, let's go and get some breakfast. Hopefully it'll sort out these hangovers.'

Ron grunted in agreement and the two of them walked towards the stairs.

'Of course, there is one silver lining to all this,' Harry told him brightly.

Ron stared at him curiously.

'Hermione will be spending so much time with Draco she won't have time to nag us about not revising hard enough,' Harry said.

'Fair point,' Ron said, nodding in agreement. He brightened and said, 'Draco's in for a whole load of shit about it, though.'

The two looked at each other, grinned, and then made their way down the stairs to join Hermione for breakfast.


End file.
